(b Codigoro, Ferrara, 1597; d Modena, 1646). Italian painter. He trained in Ferrara under Scarsellino (Baruffaldi) and was also influenced by Carlo Bononi. From c. 1619 he was in Modena, where he executed the scenes from the Lives of SS Francis Xavier and Ignatius Loyola in the church of S Bartolomeo; these reflect his training in Ferrara. He also painted the Martyrdom of SS Gervase and Protase (Modena, S Pietro), where an early response to Guercino is apparent, an influence that became more evident in later works, such as Erminia and Tancred (Modena, Mus. Civ.). The Gonfalone of the City of Modena (1633; Modena, Pal. Com.) marks the point when his style turned towards classicism and the work of Guido Reni, and this was undoubtedly encouraged by the demands of patrons who admired Bolognese art. Around 1636 he painted the large-scale altarpiece of the Virgin and Child with Saints for the Chiesa del Voto (or Chiesa Nuova), built by Francesco I d’Este after the plague of 1630. The painting includes plague scenes. Of the numerous works in the d’Este residences mentioned by Baruffaldi, and recorded in some cases in engravings executed by Lana himself (e.g. the Death of Seneca, 1629), only the St Sebastian Tended by Irene (Modena, Banca Pop. Emilia) has survived. Lana made an engraving (1643) of this work, which is indebted to the elegance of Reni. A tender sentiment and a warm naturalism characterize his work, however, even when his adherence to the classicism of Reni is most apparent, as in the Birth of the Virgin (Cento, Pin. Civ.) and the Crucifixion (Modena, Chiesa del Voto), which was left unfinished at his death. His portrait of Girolamo Valeriani, the lute-player of Francesco I d’Este (priv. col.), testifies to his activity as a portrait painter.

• Lana, Lodovico
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